Arnos Subtropical Kitchen Garden

Anro King joins our kitchen garden team this summer to provide specific advice to food growers living where summers are hot and wet.

Follow his tips for great harvests year-round.

Photo - Pi-lens / Shutterstock

Easy greens

Look for tough, subtropical greens that power through the hottest, wettest months of summer. Malabar spinach or basella is a staple in my garden for its
delicious succulent green leaves - I especially like it in palak paneer. It’s native to subtropical Asia and Africa and can be grown as a groundcover
or to maximise the long climbing stems can be trained up a support. Keep plants well watered and well fed for the best harvest. Malabar spinach is
readily grown from cuttings or from seed (Diggers Club, Green Harvest, Eden Seeds).

Malabar Spinach

Make it snappy

The secret to tasty amaranth, also called Chinese spinach, is to grow it quickly, with plenty of food and water, harvesting tender shoots to produce multi-branched
bushes. Use it as a spinach substitute and try Caribbean or Indian recipes where it takes centre stage.

Amaranth

Do now

Don’t cook your vegetables! Raised vegetable beds can be a liability in warmer parts of Australia. Metal ones particularly heat and dry the soil, cooking
your vegetables before you eat them! I recommend you raise edges by no more than 15cm. This minimises heating and makes it a lot easier to incorporate
composted organic matter and to turn the soil, which stimulates bacterial activity.

If you have a raised garden, plant draping groundcovers, such as sweet potato, Malabar spinach or allherb, Plectranthus amboinicus, along the edge to insulate
the sides from the sun’s heat, and position annual vegetables towards the moister, cooler centre. Don’t know allherb? It’s a replacement for thyme
and oregano that thrives in areas with summer rain.

Don't cook you vegetables, raise edges by no more than 15cm in the subtropics.

Plant now

Cherry and currant tomatoes are more tolerant of heat, heavy rain and dryness than their larger cousins and are more resistant to many common tomato diseases.
As they have a thicker skin, fruit are rarely bothered by fruit fly, making them my choice for the warmer months of the year.

Most cherry tomatoes grow as large sprawly climbers, and for ease of harvest, are best trained up a trellis or tepee. My favourites include ‘Broad Ripple
Yellow Currant’, ‘Red Currant’, ‘Beam's Yellow Pear’, ‘Pink Bumble Bee' and a large-fruited one that appeared on the edge of my dam spontaneously and
continues to grow there 10 years later.

Cherry and currant tomatoes are more tolerant of heat

Pick now

Snake beans are hot weather stalwarts that retain their crispness in curries, stews and stir fries - as well as their colour. Colour, you ask? Years ago
I was stuck with only green snake beans, but I now grow some dozen cultivars - all coloured. 'Red Noodle' has deep red pods; 'Thai Purple' is purple;
‘Mosaic' is a lavender brown; 'White Snake Bean' is a whitish green Chinese selection; and ’Thai Soldier' is white with red spots.

Climbing varieties are most productive, space-efficient and easy on the back and can be trained up temporary tepees or trellis. Dwarf varieties pod quickly,
but have a shorter life than climbers. Semi-climbing varieties can make great groundcovers. Hunt them up at Asian markets, Thai Buddhist Festivals
and on-line.

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Ask us

What is the best time and method to propagate daphne?

Any time from spring to autumn is suitable for taking daphne cuttings. Take a cutting of approximately 10cm length, including a node (a swollen section of stem where leaves, stems, roots originate). Dip this into rooting hormone gel or powder and place into propagation mix deep enough so that it stands by itself. A plastic cover over the pot will help retain humidity. Place in a protected position out of direct sunlight. Keep moist and expect roots in a couple of months.

I planted potatoes in layers of manure and straw in early July and would like to know when they will be ready to harvest.

You should be ready to harvest your first batch in February. Simply use your hands to feel through the light mix you have used and pull up as many potatoes as you need for dinner. You can keep on harvesting as you need the potatoes until you run out, or until the start of next winter.